1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a leakage prevention member that prevents the leakage of developer from the surface of rotation members such as the surface of an electrostatic latent image carrier, an intermediate transfer member, developing rollers of a developing device, or the like of an image forming device. The present invention also relates to a cleaning device that has the leakage prevention member.
2. Background Information
There has been an image forming device made of an image forming unit configured to form an image based on image information, a fixing unit configured to fix the image formed by the image forming unit onto a sheet of paper, and a discharging unit configured to discharge the sheet of paper with the image fixed thereon by the fixing unit. In this image forming device, an image is formed on a sheet of paper by the image forming unit based on the image information, and fixed by the fixing unit. Then, the sheet of paper with the image fixed thereon is discharged from the discharging unit.
Here, an existing image forming unit includes one that has an electrostatic latent image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface thereof, a developing device that supplies developer to the electrostatic latent image carrier, and a cleaning unit that cleans the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier. In this image forming unit, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier based on the image information, and developer is supplied from the developing device to the electrostatic latent image carrier. Then, the image formed on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier is transferred onto a sheet of paper. Then, the cleaning unit cleans the electrostatic latent image carrier.
This kind of image forming device includes a plurality of rotation members that carry developer, and a seal member for preventing developer from leaking from the rotation member. For example, there is a cleaning device for the electrostatic latent image carrier that includes a blade member that scrapes off developer from the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier that is able to carry an image formed by developer, a frame that stores developer scraped off by the blade member in the interior thereof, and a seal member arranged on the two edge portions of the blade member for preventing developer from leaking from the two edge portions of the blade member. Here, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication 7-5794, since there is a possibility that developer may leak out from between the electrostatic latent image carrier and the seal member when the positioning of the seal member and the blade member is not accurate, the positioning of the seal member is based on the blade member in order to position the seal member accurately.
In a conventional cleaning device, a seal member that is in contact with the electrostatic latent image carrier that is able to hold an image formed of developer is made of nonwoven fabric, and thus results in a tiny gap between the electrostatic latent image carrier and the seal member. Especially in the case with nonwoven fabric, it is difficult to form a shape of seal member that follows the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier, and the sealing capability is inferior. As a result, when developer with fine particles or a liquid type developer or the like is used, developer may leak out from the gap.
Furthermore, in the above cited reference, the position of the seal member with respect to the blade member is precisely maintained. However, the positioning of the seal member with respect to the electrostatic latent image carrier that is able to hold an image formed of developer is not mentioned especially. Since the electrostatic latent image carrier is normally in a drum shape, the positioning of the seal member with respect to the electrostatic latent image carrier is also important. This is because if the position of the seal member with respect to the electrostatic latent image carrier is out of alignment, the entire surface of the seal member that is in contact with the drum surface will not be in contact uniformly, and it will become easy for a leakage to occur. In addition, when the electrostatic latent image carrier rotates, it is possible that the seal member may move in the rotation direction with the rotation of the electrostatic latent image carrier, and in this case, an excellent contact between the two will not be maintained.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved leakage prevention member and cleaning device. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.